The “What?” Stack [Davies]

Charles makes a pretty compelling case of getting rid of a hefty portion of business jargon captured in terms like: mission, vision, goal, outcomes, etc. and replace them with one simple word: What

They all attempt to capture the same thing: what we do. The only thing that changes is the timeframe we’re referring to. Two additional terms allows us to traverse various timeframes: Why (to what end?) expands the timeframe, and How (by what means?) shrinks it.

You can navigate the stack from any starting point moving either up (longer timeframe) by asking “Why?” or down (shorter timeframe) by asking “How?”.

An example from my current domain, demonstrating the edge cases:

What: Enable all children to reach to reach their full potential

How: By making the best education the most affordable one

How: By creating a networked school system with a strong network effect

How: By building a digital platform which enables progressive education practices

How: By creating a capability for educators to perform in-line, competency-based assessments (rather than rely on standardized tests)

How: By building a feature that enables an educator to capture a student’s work in real-time

…

What: Build a feature that enables an educator to capture a student’s work in real time

Why: To create a capability for educator to perform in-line, competency-based assessments (rather than rely on standardized tests)

Why: To build a digital platform that which enables progressive education practices